rhenning

104 is the front axle and is replaceable. Take it to a bike shop and ask if they have one that will work. It could even be a bit longer and still work if there are enough thread to adjust the bearings. Keep doing that untill you find one and then install it. Roger

xerman

Fixed everything and now... enjoying this great bike.
I think in the close future I will keep improving it, it's such a nice bike...I'm surprise it's comparable to a Brompton (not forgetting it's 1/14 of the cost here in Spain).

xerman

Hi folks! I think I'm starting to think about improving this bike, Im seriously falling in love with it

- Bottom Bracket : Is it wrong if I replace it with this? (PROWHEEL - 13025)
- Eje acero CR-MO sellado.
- Contacto de eje 6T. (Hexagonal)
- Medida Eje: 153,5 mm
- ØTapa cartucho: 51,5 mm
- Armazón cartucho: 68 mm
- Presentación: Caja PROWHEEL




Brakes: Found this Shimano Sora model not very expensive. What do you think about it? (Shimano - Dual Pivot Rear Brake Sora 3000 Clipper, Color Black)

Thanks and good rides!

2wheeldeal

Replacing the crankset with aluminum will reduce the weight more than anything else, and you want to be sure that the new crank + bracket combination keeps the chainline close to the existing one. New brakes have to have enough reach for the tires. Most people use Tektro 556's. Good luck.

xerman

Thanks for your reply @2wheeldeal.
It's seems difficult to find Tektro R556 in Spain. Do you think that the r359 model will do the job? (it says it reaches until 57 cm).

2wheeldeal

The Tektro is listed at 55 - 73 mm. Here's a good article:
https://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear...-reach-brakes/

FYI - I got mine from aliexpress for, I think, $31. They were listed at twice that price from my local source, Universal.

xerman

Nice offer you got! I found some "no brand" ones in Amazon, giving them a try, if they are not good I can always send them back.

misakosic

shopping


my babies


UPS delivery guy 6.3
Nice bikes, green is fancy and red is one that i have in my truck. It is usually 50 to a 100 bucks on a local craigslist and i got it for 30. I wanted coaster brake but wheels of my kids cruisers did not match. The only one was Huffy that my son used as a mini bmx until recently. Wheels are 12 inch with a coaster brake. It works as charmed. I went on a round trip a couple of days and i had it for shopping and more so for my cardio fitness. Have a fun with your bikes and i ll send some photos bike, truck one of ups drivers me and me & my wife from the pacific beach where i live.

DennyW

Hi all! I'm from Singapore. Recently, I acquired a classic Dahon. I believe it's Dahon Getaway V. It was love at a first sight... lol. I would post pics, but I think I have clock 10 posts first. I'm glad I found this forum so that I can learn a thing or two to maintain this beautiful bike.

xerman

I wish I had the chrome one, I really love how it looks.
Best,

Xermán

xerman

update, very happy with the bike

DennyW

@xerman

Nice! Do you have issue on gear shifting? As in, the shifter will give in to the RD spring when you turn the handlebar as a result, it will shift to higher gear by itself. That's the issue I'm dealing right now...

xerman

Hi Denny! Sorry, english is not my native language and I don't undestand what RD spring is. But I have no problems turning the handlebar, no gear shifting. Could be that you need a bit longer cable? Also maybe it needs a bit of lubrication for helping the movement of the metal cable inside the plastic housing.

lubloi

Reviving a zombie thread, but I may actually be able to answer some of the questions that the OP asked.

I recently acquired two Dahon Classic III’s in stainless steel (the seller offered them as a pair). One I will be using myself, the other is for a friend. I decided to get a classic Dahon, and not a cheap new folder from Decathlon or ebay, or a Brompton, for the following reasons: a) they were cheap, b) they are fairly compact when folded, not as small as a Brompton of course but certainly smaller than most, c) they have an internal gear hub, which in a folder is preferable to derailleur gearing, at least to me, and d) they are charming and likeable machines that seem to have more ‘soul’ than the modern hydroformed aluminium machines.

My Dahons have a Torpedo three-speed hub (that's why they're called Classic III), which is a bit unusual I believe, most seem to have Sturmey-Archer hubs. They have an American-sized bottom bracket shell, but a three-piece crank with aluminium crank arms; the spindle is a one-of-a-kind thing that I’ve never seen before, with the threading to fit Ashtabula bearing races, but square taper ends.

I started taking them apart and from the general wear on tires, chains, rims, and brake pads, I’m guessing they were ridden for less than a thousand kilometers, maybe even less than half that. Still, they must be about 35 years old now, so there’s lots of work to be done to make them rideable.

I overhauled the front hubs – one of them had pitted cones, so I ordered a new 8mm axle with cones (came as a set). I had to tighten the spokes on all wheels – some of the spokes were ridiculously loose, I could turn the nipples by hand the first couple of turns. Also trued the wheels of course. I think this may become a recurring task, the hubs have fairly narrow flanges (they're steel), that are really too narrow to take up the full length of the spoke elbow. So the spoke elbow is going to bend a bit in use, and will also break sooner from fatigue. This won't be a huge problem, I won't use the Dahon for long rides, but it's worth keeping an eye on.

I overhauled the bottom bracket bearings and the headbearings. I'll try to insert some pictures below. I lubricated all of the pivot points on the frame, and loctited the adjustment screw on the main frame pivot, because it moved around too easily. I took apart, cleaned, lubricated one of the Torpedo three-speed hubs already. The insides were so clean and oily (no gummed up old grease) that I didn't take the gear mechanism apart, I just oiled the mechanism, put grease on the ball bearing races, and put it together again. It shifts great.

I put a new o-ring on the steering strut coupling (it was missing), and grinded off the pump holders from the bottom of the down tube. Also had to adjust the brakes. If I add up everything, I think I spent 6 or 7 full working hours getting this hardly used bike in shape. Maybe this explains the wildly diverging opinions on the quality of Dahons - maybe not all bikes were assembled to the same high standard before delivery.

It looks like this:

Bottom bracket shell:

Bottom bracket spindle and bearings. The spindle has reverse threads, so 'tighten' the locknut (not shown) and the bearing cup to remove them:

lubloi

A couple more pictures. Head tube, exactly one inch tall:

The crown race was a loose fit on the steerer tube, I could just pull it off with my hand:

Crown race (without the notches), top race (with notches), and two sets of caged bearings. They're huge, the bearing cages are about two inches in diameter.

During assembly, keep the top race slightly loose, because you'll be adding two locknuts later on, which will add to the bearing preload:

Here you can see those two locknuts:

lubloi

Finally, a couple of measurements of the stainless Dahon Classic III for future reference. Weight: 13 kilograms. Bottom bracket spindle length: 121 millimeters, but it should be a couple of millimeters shorter, because the chainline is not perfect. Over locknut distance of the front hub: measured at 67mm, but this is probably suppposed to be 70mm (the smallest spacing that seems to exist for front hubs). Over locknut distance at the rear: 110mm. Front hub bearing ball size is a standard 3/16". The headset bearing balls are 1/4". These are caged bearings but I think I'll order a number of loose balls, the crown race on one of the two bikes already showed some brinelling/fretting marks so it will be good to have a full complement of bearing balls in there.

The headset is the only thing that looks like it might limit the useful life of the bike. The frame and its hinges are sturdy and it's obviously not going to rust. All other parts can be sourced relatively easily, but that weird headset size may make things difficult.

lubloi

After a few hundred kilometers, some of which on rocky trails that the Dahon was completely unsuitable for, the crank bearings developed play, and when I took them apart, the cones turned out to be pitted. At this point I decided to convert the bottom bracket to the standard British threaded format, using Truvativ inserts. RJ the bike guy show how to do this in this video: With the Dahon, there are two complications: one is that the seat tube protrudes into the bottom bracket shell, and interferes with the sealed bottom bracket. The other is that on the non-drive side, the seat tube is very close to the edge of the bottom bracket shell, and interferes with the Truvativ insert.
So I wound up removing quite a bit of material from the seat tube within the bottom bracket shell:

I also had to remove some material from the insert on the non-drive side to make it fit:

It worked great and the bike has a sealed bottom bracket now. I used a BB with a spindle length of 113mm and the chainline is close to perfect.

brdeleo49

Bought this "old" Dahon Boardwalk a few months ago. Spokes are a bit rusty, but the wheels are okay and the bearings are lubed. I had to replace the chain, front brake pads, and changed the tires to Kenda Kwest 20x1.50. Plans are to carry in my SUV for travels and anywhere else....

oldfox

Hi just reading this post , recently got a dahon and would like to upgrade it although i have very
little experience with bikes , could you tell me when you amended the bb shell did all the three
bolts fit on the inserts , thanking you

dezzie

Just bought this in the UK, its mint condition but slowly started the strip and clean process, mudguards and chainguard off, new tyres and tubes ordered then to tackle the slop in the brace at the headtube, so far its looking great, nice alongside my vintage Moulton too.
sorry i cannot seem to post pics i cannot see how?
Edit, pics uploaded, 1st shows bike the day i got it, 2nd i replaced tyres and tubes and a washer for the pop in frame clamp, 3rd i added a Brooks saddle, next is matching Brooks grips and a new singlespeed chain.

Geepig

Congratulations on your 'new' bike.

When you are writing a post, just above the writing area is a bar with writing tool buttons, like B for bold etc. Click the one that looks like a landscape picture and an uploader appears.

You can also upload your pictures to your 'Gallery' first, and then a few seconds after the uploader appears the option to 'upload' from your gallery appears.

Does this make sense, or do you have another sticking point?

dezzie

Cheers i sussed it out now!

devinfan

Lovely bike in great shape! I love mine and wouldn’t trade it for anything. My brother recently bought a $5000 Brompton and while it’s obviously a superior bike, I can’t say I enjoy riding it more than my Dahon stainless, we swap during rides all the time for fun.